Idioms: A Ship Service Of Ii Halves (Part 2)

In the first utilisation of this post, I mulled over how useful (or not) it is to learn the to a greater extent than colourful halt of the idiomatic spectrum (of the raining cats as well as dogs variety). My thoughts were prompted past times a Twitter chat final calendar week virtually educational activity lexical chunks. As nosotros bantered to as well as fro inwards 140-character bursts though, I was struck past times how many idioms nosotros employed ourselves to acquire our points across. Now admittedly, nosotros were trying to outdo each other inwards seeing how many idioms nosotros could shoehorn into the discussion. Nevertheless, I even as well as then constitute myself using them fifty-fifty when I wasn’t consciously trying to. And it got me thinking virtually the utilisation of idioms inwards communication via social media.  

Part 2: Are idioms to a greater extent than prevalent inwards social media?

Let me start off past times proverb I haven’t done whatever variety of inquiry into this, but my linguist’s intuition tells me that it could only hold out the case. Journalists as well as other writers who desire to brand a quick behave on on their audience convey long understood the ability of a well-placed idiom:

They’re colourful: idioms by as well as large conjure upward bright images (think of those cats as well as dogs falling from the sky), which makes them to a greater extent than salient than other types of language, they outpouring out at the reader, they pigment a film as well as may fifty-fifty heighten a smile. When you’re trying to stand upward out with the jumble on someone’s newsfeed, that’s precisely what you lot want.

They’re much to a greater extent than than the amount of their parts: equally I said inwards the outset utilisation of this post, an idiom often carries a whole charge of connotational baggage along with it. Sometimes they only add together a fight of emphasis, but oft they tell a lot to a greater extent than besides. Say, you lot wanted to clit soul who isn’t ‘normal’, each of these idioms mightiness enjoin quite a unlike story:

off his rocker
has a screw loose
has lost the plot
a few sandwiches brusk of a picnic
mad equally a box of frogs
a fight off the wall

... as well as of course, they tell all that extra materials inwards good nether 140 characters!

They appeal to a shared culture: because idioms tend to hold out quite culturally-bound, when nosotros utilisation them, we’re proverb something similar “see, nosotros convey the same cultural background”, whether that’s quite broadly or equally utilisation of a sub-culture. At the extreme end, idioms are fifty-fifty created out of quotes from pop civilization (apparently called snowclones; thank you lot to Hugh Dellar for that nugget), recollect “what convey xxx e'er done for us” (from Monty Python) or fifty-fifty the championship of this post (which for those of you lot who don’t know comes from British football game punditry). It’s likely also 1 of the reasons why idioms are as well as then dear of lather opera scriptwriters; past times cramming the characters’ spoken communication total of idioms, we’re maybe inclined to recollect they’re “just similar us”.

All those characteristics brand idioms perfect for getting across a message concisely but with behave on when infinite is limited. I’ve been keeping an optic on my Twitter as well as Facebook feeds over the past times calendar week as well as it’s hard to tell whether at that spot are actually a lot of idioms or whether I’m only noticing them. I was struck a few days agone though when I was trying to follow a Facebook thread inwards French as well as constitute myself struggling, non only because my French is a fight rusty, but because it was total of idioms I’d never come upward across. I learnt that “nous ne sommes pas sortis de l’auberge” (which Facebook rather unhelpfully translated word-for-word equally “we haven’t left the hostel”!) patch way something similar “we’re non out of the woods yet”.

You only know you’re going to hold out spotting idioms everywhere now, don’t you? ...

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